Chapter 18

"You don't have to go on, Jules."

But he did.

He realized now, finally, how much he needed to say it. Even though it felt like his heart was being crushed, by the weight of his words, his sins. Jules didn't stop.

"I met Manjusha when I was in sixth grade, I remembered thinking two things. One, she looked familiar and two, she wasn't pretty," he paused. "But I liked her right away. Her mom had been called as a favor by the principal to fill in as our teacher. So she brought her daughter Manju along and they both started to live on campus.

Manju was good; you know the way puppies and flowers were good. Her hobbies included crying and watching movies, she was so talented she could do both at the same time. Somewhere between stopping her from having a total meltdown, anytime, a character dies. We became friends. She introduced me to anime and I taught her the fastest way to stop crying."

"It was only when we had both left the boarding